Dreams of competitions, rivalries, contests, duels, bouts and races... plus one actual competition/contest (see Pegasia). There are also a few dreams of more sedentary games that explore the effects of competition.

BALEENA'S GAME: by Wayan; 1974/1/26, a surreal dream with a practical point
I meet a whale-spirit who marries a man. He loves poker, but her sonar sees too much. Whale-spirits like another game...

BASTARD UNICORN: by Wayan; 2012/6/28, a dream about ambition
Since I'm half-unicorn, my ambition drives me to share power and help the whole herd--that's how unicorns rise. But among human politicians...

BERYL BORROWED IT: by Wayan, 1986/3/8, an absurd dream.
My friend Beryl borrows my ass and legs to become a centaur so she won't fall over. I want them back, so...
CAUTION: CRUDE AND STUPID

THE BIRD MARATHON: by Wayan; 1982/7/10, a comic nightmare with serious overtones.
A bizarre marathon, and the Princess is the prize. But she doesn't WANT to be, so she sets out...
CAUTION: BLOODY BIRD

CHESS DEVIL: by Wayan; 1997/8/5, a humiliating nightmare.
I try to rescue my girl friends losing to a devil in boat-chess, but they'd rather be with him...
CAUTION: BAD GIRLS

CHESTERTON'S POUNCE: by William Archer; 1920/4/6, a literary nightmare
G.K. Chesterton was a leopard, and he ambushed George Bernard Shaw... Oh, the blood! Why didn't I intervene?

THE CORE ISSUE: by Wayan; 1992/6/25, a dream from multiple viewpoints
The tale of a gray heart trying to heal leads to unicorn-hostage drama in the Transamerica Pyramid...
CAUTION: SEX, MAFIA THREATS, VIOLENCE

CROCODILE KING: by Christina Rossetti; 1855, a mysterious dream-poem.
On the Euphrates, one crocodile eats all his kin, bloating monstrously. But when a winged ship appears, he feigns remorse...

"CRY, BABY!": by Wayan, 1985/8/17, dream-farce with a warning.
The only man in the Miss America Japanese Tea Ceremony Swimsuit Pageant, I learn a tearful lesson...
CAUTION: DYSFUNCTIONAL FLIRTING

CUTENESS PAGEANT: by Wayan; 2008/8/29, a dream-poem, Dreamverse #16.
I'm trapped in a cutesy cartoon universe! Worse, to judge a beauty contest, I have to see past our style to our souls...

DEADWOOD, or, MAO'S ONEIROLOGIST: by Wayan; 1976/4/2, a career-advisory dream-poem
Trapped in the Cultural Revolution, I can't reach the Himalayas. So I fly around the base of the Stairway to Heaven...

THE DILDO SHOW: by Wayan; 2010/1/24, a truly awful dream sitcom
After seeing a 1950s cowboy show, I dream of a sitcom full of dildo balloons, passive boytoys and a relentless laugh track...
CAUTION: OH, READ THE TITLE

ENKIDU: by Gilgamesh of Uruk, c. 2750 BCE, an early prophetic dream
The hero Gilgamesh troubles his city til he has a dream predicting the gods will send him a best friend and lover, Enkidu...
CAUTION: SEX

THE EVEREST MARATHON: by Wayan; 1986/4/12, a wild dream epic, part 3 of Unicorn Tag.
During the great race up Everest, I become an e-snake, cross three eco-bubbles, beg a wary deer-taur to splice my spine for me, help Ariane (a childhood crush on the run from sentient tanks), and solve at last the Dream Equations... I learn climbing Everest doesn't take strength, but... trust?

A HAND AT CARDS: by Loomis C. Johnson; around Dec. 1916, a predictive dream.
I dreamt of a surreal poker hand where one card changed to create a full house. Next weekend, I was losing when...

HAND US THE FRENCHMAN!: by Wayan; 2004/10/24, a comic dreamlet on hippiedom's last gasp
The Feds order my friend Mike to hand them a Frenchman who left the US years ago. Mike manages to substitutes a junk VW, but drafts ME to gut the car...

HEADING FOR A FALL: by Wayan; 1993/11/2, a dream of drastic shortcuts.
I crash my car on the way to therapy. I ask my dream why. And it tells me! Deliberate, but not suicidal...

JOIN THE HUMAN RACE: by Wayan; 1985/2/11, a Gordian dream.
My shortcut in a marathon bogs down in a maze full of psychoanalysts! So I climb the walls and...

THE KEY TO OUR INHERITANCE: by Wayan; 2010/9/12; a nightmare whose victims organize
The dead treasure-hunter's will tells his heirs to meet in the wood. Chased by a knight in armor, we near-strangers unite...

LET'S PLEASE THE RICH: by Wayan; 1998/6/24, a disgusting proposal
The rich block reform. So let's offer the rich what they really want: ranking and attention...
CAUTION: CHIMPONOMICS

MAGIC SCHOOL: by Wayan, 1982/1/26: a waking event and replying dream.
Phyllis Schlafly, killer of the Equal Rights Amendment, provokes a dream of being Captain Kirk trapped in a magic school with no way out but the graduate exam... Can I learn the lesson of the tree?
CAUTION: POLITICAL JOURNALISM BEFORE THE DREAM. OH NO!

A MAMMOTH FIGHT: by Wayan; 1996/2/26, a dream of another life. A tacky other life.
I'm a fight promoter whose biggest deal ever is maybe too big for me. How'd it become a four-way bout?
CAUTION: CRASS ACT

THE MAN WITH THE SNAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2002/9/3, dream of an aborted shamanic duel
I stood in the desert preparing for a contest with a man and his snake. But he cheated! Then my cat Lulu intervened...

MORAL MINNOWS: by Wayan; 1992/9/15, a dream of deep politics.
A dream explaining why everyone with any moral vision gets filtered out of politics now...

MY DESIGN FOR THE DOME: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/5/1; an advisory dreampainting from the Box of Dreams
At first no one seems interested in my mural-design for the inside of the City Hall dome, but...

MY PRIZE: by Wayan; 1997/8/15, a short psychic dream on inner critics.
A teen awards me prizes for art and writing. I wake to see her on TV--a gymnast after a prize herself...

NET PROFITS: by Wayan; 1998/7/14, a dream of family values and Web credit.
At a family picnic, my sisters and I fish for scholarships and grants. They put down my art, my website...

ONE FRUIT REMAINS UNEATEN: by Catshall; November 1983, a journal dotted with dreams
My day life as an artist and explorer of the San Francisco underground scene gets commented on regularly by my dreamlife...
CAUTION: SEX, BONDAGE

PERPETUA'S LAST DREAM: by St Perpetua; 203 A.D., a flying, sex-changing, defiant dream.
Facing death the next day in a Roman arena, Perpetua dreams of the spiritual duel behind the physical one...

THE PLACE OF SPROUTING CORN: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1989/1/10 & 1989/6/28, painting of two initiatory dreams.
I'm shown corn plants growing from skulls, and it seems like I must plant some skull-corn myself...

PRODIGY SUPPORT: by Wayan; 1994/7/21, a clipping and reactions
News of a child prodigy who was given the support I wasn't, triggers a flood of envy and bitterness...

ROAR OF THE SAILS: by Wayan; 1973/9/6, a magical scavenger-hunt dream goes lucid--but not in a typical way
Our teams search through fountains and pavilions, finding & trading the glowing stones. None of the magic makes me go lucid, but as we sail toward the finish line...

RORAIMA JUMP: by Wayan; dreamed 2016/9/18, a surreal dream of deadly outrage
I'm a Brazilian girl in the Olympic waterfall-jumping finals. My Russian & American rivals each cheat--threaten me and my family.
I snap and fight back recklessly, knocking them off their ropes. We all tumble down the cliff...
CAUTION: BULLYING, VIOLENT REVENGE

THE RULES OF THE GAME: by Wayan; 1992/11/30, a Gestaltish dream.
The Inner Theater. I'm duelling someone who keeps changing the rules. But so can I... can we make a deal?

THE RUNNING: by Wayan; 1997/9/27, a dream on sensitivity and the reverse.
I couldn't make it to Spain to see the Running of the Bulls, so I found an American equivalent...

RUNNING BIRD: by Alder; 1953, a kinetic nightmare with double selves.
I'm a flightless bird hopping down a line of marble columns rising from the sea, as they topple behind me...

RUNNING START: by Wayan; 1989, a figure study.
A rather feline runner poised for the starting gun...

SCHNEIDER TROPHY CRASH: by J. Lloyd-Owens; c. 1931/8/1, an overwhelming premonition
As a newsreel showed a Navy flier for the Schneider Trophy Air Race, I felt a violent shock and said "He's going to be killed..."

SIGNORINETTA: by Alfred Douglas; late May 1908, a predictive (and profitable) dream.
I dreamt a grey filly won the Derby. My friend, a fan, said no fillies at all were racing this year; but he forgot a loser named...

SKY AND PRESTER JOHN: by Wayan; 2009/9/30, two short dream poems with sketches; Dreamverse #57
My neurotic sister and I both lust for a girl named Sky; then I flee a gang of popes and lamas and mullahs...

SNAKES AND CENTIPEDES: by Russ Thornton; 2008/11/1, a shared/telepathic dream.
Two snakes fight as centipedes emerge from under rocks. I tell my best friend. Next day her co-worker tells her the same dream...

SPRINTERS AND SPHINX: by Wayan; 2009/11/13, a dream poem.
Divers made of ice win the Traffic-Leaping Olympics. But did they cheat? I seek my friend the Sphinx...

THE STARMONT TRIATHLON: by Wayan; 1984/7/2, a magical marathon dream.
I meet the Red God of Running and Holly Golightly; we're all in the triathlon up the world's greatest peak...

TALISMAN: by Wayan; 2016/3/3, a dream hinting I need some long-term dreamwork!
I'm a boy from a Southwestern tribe whose rite of passage is a bike race. I wear a jasper pendant with mysterious powers...

TIGER TALL: by Wayan; 1992/7/3, a marathon dream.
I'm a tiger from Planet Cat, visiting Earth to run in San Francisco's "Bay to Breakers" race. I knew racial tensions were high, but why is William S. Burroughs out to kill me? Oh. Because...

TRESPASSERS IN MALANCHAI: by Hyal; 100K, Feb 1996?, an epic dream with a weird intrusion.
A maneless lion-boy wins his people's respect. While training, he sees weird trespassers who seem to be from someone else's dream... and ten years later, he finds that dreamer.

TRIGO: by Edith L. Willis; 1929/6/4, an induced automatic-writing prediction (profitable, too)
In an idle moment I held a pencil and asked the air who'd win the Derby. 'Trigo' meant nothing to me, but was listed at 32 to 1, so...

TWO BISHOP APPLICANTS: by Wayan; 1984/11/21, a surreal but mercilessly logical dream.
My mind and my soul both apply for a job in Stanford Cathedral. Their rivalry grows to a shamanic duel...